Memorial services have
been set for Feb. 6 for John R. Cohan, a retired Irell & Manella partner
and renowned personal financial planning and tax attorney.

Cohan died Dec. 29 in Las Vegas of complications
following a heart attack. He was 70.

Cohan was with Irell
& Manella for 39 years until his retirement in 1994. He practiced taxation,
personal and estate planning, and probate law for clients that included Kirk
Douglas, Samuel Goldwyn and Diana Ross.

“We are very saddened by
John’s passing,” Morgan Chu, managing partner for Irell & Manella, said.
“He was an exceptional lawyer and a great human being.”

Chu continued:

“He was certainly one of
the leaders of the bar and estate planning nationally, and one of the best
recognized tax lawyers on the national stage and Los Angeles as well. He was among
the first 10 lawyers at Irell & Manella and part of the engine that made the
firm great.”

Cohan was appointed by
then-Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley to the city’s advisory panel on Ethical
Standards for Charities.

At the University of
Southern California School of Law, he was a lecturer and chaired the annual Tax
Institute from 1984 to 1995. He was also an adjunct professor at the
University of Miami School of Law and a fellow of the AmericanCollege of Trust and Estate
Counsel and the InternationalAcademy of Estate & Trust
Law.

Cohan authored and
edited numerous books and articles on the subjects of personal financial
planning and taxation, including creating and editing Drafting California Irrevocable Trusts and California Revocable Living
Trusts.

Born in Arnhem, the Netherlands, on Feb. 10, 1931,
Cohan and his family escaped to England the day after the Netherlands surrendered to Nazi
Germany. Cohan narrowly escaped death after an English bureaucrat’s random
decision prevented his family from boarding a cruise ship that was immediately
sunk by a German submarine.

Cohan eventually sailed
to the United
States
and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona in 1952. Earning his
CPA credential at age 21, he became the youngest CPA in Arizona history.

Cohen went on to receive
his law degree from StanfordLawSchool in 1955, making Order
of the Coif, and then headed to Irell & Manella.

Cohan was an active
member of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America and Jewish Big Brothers and
was a long-standing member of the Rotary Club.

Cohan is survived by his
wife Roberta Arnold Halpern Cohan; his children Deborah, Steven, Judson, and
Alexis; and nine grandchildren.

Family memorial services
were held in private. The Feb. 6 services are to be public. For information,
call the firm at (310) 277-1010, extension 7949.

In lieu of flowers, his
family requests that contributions be made in Cohan’s memory to the Jewish Big
Brothers Association of Los Angeles, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, the
Jewish Community Foundation of the Jewish Federation-Council, the Jewish
National Fund, and the Morebrook Institute in Camarillo.